Nowhere is Safe From The Climate Crisis
Climate change is coming to your house
Climate change was more fun to complain about when I just had to read about unfortunate foreigners collapsing onto broiling sidewalks like so many sentient smash burgers. “Those poor people,” I’d say with a weary shake of my head, before shouting “STOP USING FOSSIL FUELS, SOCIETY!” while scowling in all directions and getting in the car.
But now climate change has got its sweaty fingers in my pocket, and not in a fun way.
The other day I got a letter from my insurance company advising that my house is no longer eligible for flood insurance because of its location. I’m not in hurricane country or on some low-lying tropical island being swallowed up by rising seas. Here in Toronto, we’ve just had a little more rain than usual lately; or more accurately, the same amount of rain only all at once.
What troubles me about my de-insuring isn’t the cost, which won’t happen unless my house floods (I’ve been lucky so far — got a few puddles in the basement during the Great Deluge of 2024, but no damage to speak of.) What’s unsettling is the realization that the climate crisis is hitting everyone, even me, and this is only the beginning.
My city is late to the ‘no-insurance-for-you” party.
